Roma Education Fund’s Scholarship Program for tertiary education announces its call for applications for a National Selection Board (NSB) positions for the Scholarship Program support schemes. The NSB`s will participate in the evaluation and selection process of REF Scholarship Program (REF SP) beneficiaries in Kosovo*, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, and Serbia for the academic year 2020-2021.
The NSB members will independently review the eligible applications for the Scholarship Program and will assign scores to each application in the REF SP’s online evaluation platform, according to the Program’s pre-established set of evaluation criteria. In the selection process, where applicable, they will also conduct personal interviews with scholarship applicants. All NSB members’ evaluation work is based on REF SP’s policies and procedures and Scholarship Program’s Application Guidelines.
Besides participation in the evaluation process, the National Selection Board member will assist the Program with information about the specifics of their national academic environment (particularly pertaining to higher education) and will advise on possible ways to improve the Program. NSB members will also be expected to assist the Scholarship Program in conducting inquiries regarding the applicants, if needed, on aspects such as ethnicity, verification of documents, reference, etc.
REF SP encourages candidacy from its REF SP Alumni (former scholarship beneficiaries), provided they do not receive support from Scholarship Program during the term of membership.
The NSB member should notify the Scholarship Program in case of a personal relationship with any applicant(s) and consequently refrain from evaluating the respective application(s). Furthermore, the NSB member shall treat all information as confidential and will NOT be allowed to use or disclose information about the applicants (or from their applications) for non-program related matters or to third parties. In cases of Program related enquires, NSB members shall refrain from responding to the applicants individually and forward the above-mentioned inquiries to the Scholarship Program staff.
The candidates for the National Selection Board must:
- be citizens of, or reside in the country for which REF SP is seeking candidacies for the NSB positions;
- hold a BA, Master or a Doctorate, or an equivalent degree;
- be affiliated with academic institutions, or be an employee of the government, or local administration, or working in NGOs involved in supporting the Roma community in the country;
- have at least two years of work experience in the Academic field or NGO/GO field, and have good knowledge of the higher education system in the country;
- possess satisfactory writing and oral skills in English and in the official language in which the National Selection Board will conduct the evaluation process of REF scholarship applications;
- have a good command of using Microsoft package (MS Office, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) and internet navigation browsers.
Individuals identifying themselves as Roma and fulfilling the above-mentioned profile and requirements are particularly encouraged to apply.
The interested candidates should send a CV and a Motivation Letter in English, until
July 19, 2020. to sgligorin@romaeducationfund.org with the email subject line “application for NSB position and the country”.
Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.
